Show Me (What You Can Do)
by KandyMiraj
Summary: Circus!AU. He's nameless, faceless - the puppeteer behind the curtains that pulls all the strings. But that doesn't make him innocent. And there's no way in hell that we'll ever give up. We'll keep fighting, keep getting back up, because that's who we are. Because, what doesn't kill you, makes you stronger. So show me what you can do. OC/Undecided


_**A/N:****Okay, so this is an OC/Undecided pairing story. It'll probably be pretty slow romance wise at first, mostly because it has a plot and somewhat because idk who to pair with who. I'm stuck between a couple people (Tsukishima, Kuroo, Kenma, other people from other schools too). Anyways, it's an AU with circus performers, criminals, magic, etc. It's just a big fantasy I've been thinking of c: If you have any idea of who the OC should be paired with, comment/message me and let me know! Thank you! c;**_

_**Hope you enjoy~!**_

_**(This Chapter Is) Featuring: Hinata Shouyou, Kageyama Tobio, Sawamura Daichi, Sugawara Koushi.**_

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_Chapter 1 - If Only._

_"If only, if only,"  
The woodpecker sighs,  
"The bark on a tree was as soft as the sky."  
As the wolf waits below,  
Hungry and lonely,  
He cries to the moon,  
"If only, if only."_

"Good. Again."

"Yes, Master Jerin."

It was meticulous. Everyday was the same thing. She was only brought out of her room for the same reasons: practice, battles, or entertaining the Lord.

It had been a while since she came here, and still she was unsettled by the Lord and his manor. Was it because she was slowly getting used to things in this life? Because she always woke up at the same time everyday, and did exactly as was drilled into her since she was young like clockwork? Because of the fact that she didn't have to be ordered anymore and just did it like it was a normal part of every human's lifestyle? (She didn't know much of the world, but she knew it wasn't supposed to be like this.) Or maybe it was because she was conforming to the Lord's wishes and she would soon be just another soldier in his army, or slave in his manor, and she was slowly forgetting everything about what life was like in the outside world before she came here.

She was losing herself.

Everything about this manor was unsettlingly familiar, and still gut-wrenchingly awful. From the silence of the halls, to the dead eyes of the slaves. The dark, cold, bareness of her cell-like room - to the alarmingly similar dark, cold, bareness that she felt inside. The chains around her ankles and braces on her wrists were hardly any comfort, nor the chill of the tile floors beneath her bare feet.

"Daya."

The orange-haired girl was snapped out of her daze by Master Jerin - a tall, black haired man with a cold heart similar to the manor he stayed in. Another thing she was familiar with, was this man. This man who was sent by the Lord to watch over her and most of the other slaves, and seemed to be the offspring of Satan himself.

"Forgive me, Master Jerin." Daya bowed in the man's direction, avoiding any and all eye contact with him as she turned back to the task at hand.

A deep breath in allowed her to steady both her mind and body, sliding into stance as the woman across from her mirrored her movements. Daya's opponent was Myrin - another female slave that she had come to think of as something like a 'friend'.

Myrin was a tall, masculine woman of twenty-seven years of age and nearly seven feet in height - with the tan skin of her homeland, muscles bulging and rippling under her skin, and dark hair cropped short by her own hand. Despite her mannish appearance and daunting height, Myrin was a typically friendly person with a rather maternal personality despite her quiet nature, especially towards Daya who had come along at quite a young age. They had gotten along rather quickly and were usually sparring partners ever since Daya had first started swordsmanship training.

So, Daya was not afraid. Swordsmanship wasn't all muscle anyway. It was calculations, tactics. Even the biggest beasts could be defeated by seemingly superficial wounds. It just depends on where those wounds were put, how they were applied.

It was Myrin who moved first, swinging down at the smaller girl from overhand. Daya crouched, being faster than the bigger woman, and slid to the side. She swung underhand and up, but caught air as the woman moved out of the way and back. They circled, sizing each other up, before lunging. Blades clashed, Daya tilting her arms above her head and angling her sword down to slide Myrin's off at the same time she stepped to the right, the woman being caught off guard and stumbling forward.

Before she hit the ground, Myrin turned to land on her back, swinging her arm up and barely missing Daya's stomach as the orange-haired girl jumped back. Rolling back, the taller woman jumped to her feet and rushed forwards, swinging at the others' head and missing as she ducked. Daya rolled, quickly coming to her feet where she hit the hilt of her sword against the back of Myrin's knee. The woman buckled, knees crashing hard into the tile floor and Daya slid around her body to point the tip of her sword against her throat.

All was quiet besides the heavy breathing coming from the two women, tension thick in the air as their gazes bored into one another. Despite being friends, neither of them went easy on the other. Actually, Daya was pretty sure that their friendship was _why_ they never let up. Neither would do the other the disrespect of looking down on them enough to not fight to the best of their ability.

"Enough. Back to your rooms."

Daya straightened, letting her arm drop to her side as Myrin straightened. Another servant that was quietly standing in a corner of the room scurried forwards at the Master's order. He was a skinny boy with large puppy eyes that watched the two women carefully as he collected the swords from them. Daya smiled at him in an attempt at comfort, and the boy nervously nodded back, cowering away to put up the weapons. The girl turned her smile to the older woman, whose eyes softened at her - which was as close to a smile as she would probably get.

Daya's face straightened at the Master's voice, following him as he led the three slaves back to their rooms.

Her room was bare - cold like the rest of the manor, but darker than night. She could never tell what time of day it was in that room. Minutes turned to hours, and hours to days. That's what she feared most about this place. The endless disconnect. The fact that she had absolutely no knowledge of what was going on outside until she was fighting on the battlefield.

Which is why she had no idea what time it was when the ruckus woke her up. Daya uncurled her stiff body, blinking bleary, silver eyes despite the fact that it would not help her see in the pitch blackness. The wall shook with another loud _boom_, and she could hear the Masters and servants screaming. And then there was shuffling near her door.

Light filtered into her room when it was opened up to the hallway with a loud, metallic creak - temporarily blinding her.

"Get up!" She was sure it was Master Jerin. He didn't wait, dragging Daya to her feet and throwing her out of the door. "It's time to make yourself useful."

The orange-haired girl already knew not to ask questions, and instead took off running down the halls towards where the commotion was coming from - ignoring the way the cuffs banged against the bruises on her tender ankles, chains clinking. Servants rushed past her - creating a path for her to cut through - carrying weapons and armor for the soldiers. Not usually having a need for armor, Daya rushed past them without a glance.

She almost gave herself a heart attack when she - literally - ran into a young boy with bright orange hair. The girl froze, staring at the boy as an uncomfortable feeling of nostalgia settled in her heart. His bright, warm brown eyes, orange hair - she was suddenly hit with old, hazy memories of an older man from her childhood. A man she had nearly forgotten after all this time without him.

Before Daya could react, the boy grabbed her wrist, pulling her to his feet. She couldn't hear, feel, speak - just stared numbly as the boy tugged her along after him, saying something that flew right over her head. Everything sounded so far away, dull, and she felt like she was out of her body. In the main room, there was chaos. A group of unfamiliar people were fighting the soldiers, none looking to be any older than eighteen or nineteen years of age. The orange-haired girl could hear a commotion from other parts of the manor, assuming that there were more people affiliated with this group that were fighting other soldiers. The sounds died out in the main room as they took down the soldiers in front of them, the only noise coming from the rumbles of other places of the manor.

"Here, she's another slave!"

Daya snapped out of her daze when the boy spoke in accented English, dragging her into the room with him. One of the black haired boys - taller than the one dragging her, but still rather young - in their group came forward, reaching out to her until she yanked her wrist out of the orange-haired boy's grip and backed away from them.

"Don't worry," the shorter boy spoke, "We're trying to help you. We'll get you out of here. You'll be free."

Daya's eyes darted back and forth between the faces of the group of foreigners in the room. She knew what she was supposed to do - attack, kill, destroy. But the shock of seeing a boy so similar to the man that she shared _blood_ with kept her from thinking properly.

"Dayanassus!" The orange-haired girl whipped around at the unsettlingly familiar voice, faced with Master Jerin at the opening to the room, "_Don't_ make me tell you again."

_Make yourself useful._

Daya turned around, feeling the power rush through her arm and body, warmth coursing through her veins. Her fists immediately ignited into flames, barely registering the utterly shocked looks on her opponents' faces before blasting the other orangette in the room out of the doorway across from them.

"Hinata!" The voices of the other three boys in the room shouted as she rushed past the black-haired boy.

The sounds of clashing metal sounded from behind her and she caught a glimpse of Master Jerin taking on the other two boys as the black-haired one followed after her. She found the shorter one - apparently _Hinata_ - curled up on the ground, groaning as he attempted to get up.

Daya jumped as she turned, kicking fire out of her feet at the taller boy - barely missing as he dropped to the ground with a surprised grunt. She swung her left foot as she turned, fire shooting out like a whip at Hinata, and he rolled to the side quickly. The sound of metal was her only warning as she turned back to the other boy and barely dodged the sword he swung at her. He was quick, bringing the blade back around and up in one smooth motion.

The orange-haired girl quickly sidestepped, bending backwards to duck right after as he followed up with another swing aimed for her head. She rolled backwards, kicking up a ball of fire at him so as to gain some distance as he was forced to jump back. She caught Hinata rushing at her from her place on the ground, and shifted into a handstand, bringing her foot down with a whip of fire as she landed on her feet.

"Why are you doing this? We can help you!" The boy shouted, after dodging her attack. "I told you we can get you out of here, just like the others! You don't have to listen to him anymore!"

What lies. Did the boy really think he would make it out of here alive? The Lord wouldn't allow that, nor would Master Jerin. If she attempted to help them, if she joined their side, she would just be brought down along with them. She had no choice, serve the Lord, obey the Masters - that was her purpose, her reason for existence, now.

The three looked over as one of the other boys in the group suddenly crashed into the wall near them. Myrin immediately followed, sword clutched in her hands, the muscles in her arms clenching as she prepared to strike.

"Sugawara-san!" The black-haired boy called, alerting the other of the attack, causing the boy to very narrowly avoid the downwards swing of Myrin's heavy blade.

The black-haired boy rushed towards the taller woman, Daya moving to follow him, before she heard the taps of feet behind her and remembered Hinata.

She swung around, jumping and kicking balls of fire at the boy. He dodged, using his quick reflexes and small body to his advantage. She swung her leg around, catching the clashes of swords behind her, and sent a wave of fire at the boy as he advanced. He bent backwards, dodging the magic, and charged her once again. She punched, kicked, swung her fists and legs, fire shooting out each time. And each time the boy dodged, quickly moving back towards her.

It happened quickly after that.

Daya caught Hinata off guard when the other was jumping up from the ground. Her kick hit him square in the chest, knocking him onto his back as the breath rushed out of his lungs. She whipped around to try to get at least one of the boys away from Myrin, and stopped as she saw the woman standing over the silver-haired boy that she threw into the wall earlier.

The woman brought her arms down, only to drop her sword midway, eyes widening. Both girls looked down to the sword that split through Myrin's middle, watching as blood seeped from the wound and into the slave dress they were made to wear. She coughed wetly, blood spewing from between her lips and dribbling down her chin. The woman fell, knees bashing into the cold, hard tile floors.

Daya's shoulders dropped, the fight in her leaving as she watched the only mother-figure she ever had cough blood up onto the floor in disbelief. Her feet moved before she knew it, ending up at Myrin's side as she slid to her knees next to her - completely forgetting about and ignoring the three boys.

She could hear one of the boys move and turned to lunge at him, rage suddenly filling up her senses with a heat like none other she had ever felt before. The black-haired boy rushed at her as well, only stopping when Hinata yelled, "Wait!" and held his friend back at the same time a large, strong hand closed around Daya's wrist as Myrin rasped, "Daya!"

All motion ceased as Hinata stood in front of the black-haired boy, all three of them watching the two females with wary eyes - and Myrin kept Daya on the floor with her grip.

"Don't, Daya." The large, tanned woman spoke with a firm tone.

The orange-haired girl whipped around to stare in disbelief at the older woman, opening her mouth to protest when she was cut off.

"I heard them." She spoke like Daya was keeping secrets from her, "They offered you freedom! So why do you continue to fight? It's too late for me, it has been for many years. I am not a good... person-" She grunted and raised her other hand to cover her wound with a pained look, "I have done many wrong things, but you - you still have a chance! So, please. Go. I won't make it, even if I did think myself good enough for freedom." Her voice lowered into a whisper, "Live... for the both of us."

"Hinata! Kageyama! Sugawara!" A new voice added, an older black-haired boy following it. "We're getting out, now!"

"But, what about-" The younger black-haired boy spoke, before getting cut off.

"Now! I'll explain later, so move!"

Hinata turned back to Daya, "Come with us! You don't have to be a slave anymore, please!"

"Go." Myrin urged.

She heard feet stampeding down the halls, and assumed that those were more of the Lord's soldiers. The four boys rushed out, only Hinata stopping to grab Daya and pull her to her feet. She looked back, only to see the black-haired woman laying face down on the floor, and turned because she couldn't watch her only friend die.

Everything else was a mess. New nameless faces joined the five as they rushed out of the manor. She caught the black-haired boy - Kageyama, was it? - watching her warily from the corner of his eyes. What used to be a doorway was now a hole in the wall.

_So that's what all the noise was._

"Let's go! Nishinoya is already here! Move, move, move!" The older black-haired boy waved people out of the room, some of the soldiers of their group fighting off the Lord's soldiers that rounded the corner.

As soon as she was outside, Daya looked up at where a loud, whirring noise was coming from, eyes widening is shock at the large, flying machine in the sky.

"What... the hell is _that_?" She mumbled, absentmindedly following Hinata as he grabbed her shoulders and moved her forwards.

She watched as the doors on the bottom of the machine opened, cords shooting out to the people on the ground. Hinata stepped up onto one of the platforms at the bottom of the cords with Kageyama, both grabbing the cord with one hand and she yelped as they yanked her up off the ground with their free ones.

The machine turned once all the soldiers got on one of the different platforms - the ones fighting off the Lord's soldiers on the ground climbing onto the ships in the waters - the cords rising up towards the doors. Once inside the machine, Hinata pulled Daya off of the platform and onto the metal floors next to the now-closing doors.

The machine was filled with many different voices, soldiers checking if their comrades were okay, the slaves being asked questions as they were handed food, water, and blankets - and the clinking of chains as the cuffs were removed from the slaves' ankles.

Hinata pulled Daya to one of the benches inside the ship, sitting her down as he moved down to kneel in front of her. He carefully lifted one of her bare feet, calling "Kageyama" and taking a sword from the boy. He put the blade against the lock of each cuff, breaking them off before doing the same with the ones at her wrists. Her limbs suddenly felt very light, and she tucked her knees up against her chest, rubbing at the dark bruises around her ankles and wrists.

The orange-haired boy sat next to her, and she couldn't help but blurt out what had been eating at her for a while now, "Why were you so passionate about saving me?"

Hinata watched her in surprise for a couple moments, seeming to search her face before replying, "Because you had the chance to kill me, and you didn't."

Daya sighed, "You mistake my weakness for kindness."

But the boy shook his head, smiling like he knew something she didn't, "No, I didn't. It's not that you _couldn't_ kill me. You _chose not to_ kill me."

And with that, he got up, mentioning that he would go to get her some blankets and nourishment.

When Hinata was gone, Kageyama approached her. "That doesn't change the fact that you fought us. Hinata trusts too easily, but I don't. You had better watch yourself, because if you make _one_ step out of line," He leaned down, voice dropping to a deadly serious tone, "_I will not hesitate to kill you_."

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**_A/N: Okay, so that's it for Chapter 1. I named this chapter "If Only." because it means that Daya is thinking 'if only I had freedom, if only I wasn't a slave,' etc and shows that she wishes she wasn't in the position she's in._**

_**The song at the beginning is from the movie "Holes" and is titled "If Only".**_

_**This story is for senpai (Bergliot) because I thought she might find it interesting and like it, plus she's super nice and a great artist and writer! Her Tumblr is bergliot-manner and her Fanfiction is Bergliot. Check out her HQ! story if you haven't already~! c:**_

_**Also, reviews give me life, so please comment and favorite/follow! **_

_**THANK YOU~! c:**_


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